New Apps Compatibility Toolkit for Vista

To accompany the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft yesterday announced the final release of a toolkit for assuring that applications will run correctly under the new system.

Microsoft's Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) version 5 is designed to identify compatibility issues when using Vista and IE7 -- for instance, which applications have problems with Vista's new User Account Control (UAC) feature. It can also be used on Windows XP Service Pack 2 to help identify compatibility issues when using Internet Explorer 7.

"[ACT 5] enables software developers, independent software vendors, and IT professionals who work in a corporate environment to determine, before rolling out within the organization, whether their applications are compatible with [the] new version of Windows. ACT also enables such individuals to determine how an update to the new version will impact their applications," said a statement on Microsoft's site.

Besides support for Vista, ACT 5 adds a new tool called the Application Compatibility Manager, which provides updated ways of performing configuration, including the ACT Configuration Wizard. It also adds updated data collection and analysis capabilities.

ACT 5 also comes with compatibility evaluators for Windows Vista. These include the Inventory Collector, the Internet Explorer Compatibility Evaluator, the User Account Control Compatibility Evaluator, the Update Compatibility Evaluator, and the Vista Compatibility Evaluator.

In addition, ACT 5 features new developer and tester tools, the IE Compatibility Test Tool, the Setup Analysis Tool (SAT), and the Standard User Analyzer (SUA).

Along with the software, Microsoft has also set up the ACT Community, an online resource where ISV partners and customers using ACT 5.0 will be able to post comments, and share information about application compatibility testing, as well as to upload results.